Tokyo Cyberpunk Posthumanism in Japanese Visual Culture [Paperback]

Engaging some of the most canonical and thought-provoking anime, manga, and science fiction films, Tokyo Cyberpunk offers insightful analysis of Japanese visual culture. Steven T. Brown draws new conclusions about the cultural flow of art, as well as important technological issues of the day.Introduction: Posthumanism after AKIRA PART I: MACHINIC DESIRES: HANS BELLMER'S DOLLS AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL UNCANNY IN GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE PART II: DESIRING MACHINES: BIOMECHANOID EROS AND OTHER TECHNO-FETISHES IN TETSUO: THE IRON MAN AND ITS PRECURSORS PART III: CONSENSUAL HALLUCINATIONS AND THE PHANTOMS OF ELECTRONIC PRESENCE IN KAIRO AND AVALON Conclusion: Software in a Body: Critical Posthumanism and Serial Experiments Lain

Brown makes a highly important contribution to Japanese visual studies as a whole . . . An enjoyable and eminently readable text . . . It will be very much at home in Japanese studies courses focused on film, anime, and popular culture, as well as film and cultural studies courses focused on science fiction, technology, and posthumanism. - The Journal of Asian Studies

It should prove of use to specialists in film studies and Japanese culture . . . Recommended. - CHOICE

A welcome exploration of science fiction within 'Japanese visual culture' . . . Tokyo Cyberpunk is an exciting study that is at its best when it considers the transcultural theoretical value of Japanese visual culture. Its detailed bibliography makes it ideal for university library collections, as well as for teachers and researchers who are interested in the expansion and further complication of the existing work on sf, transnational cultural studies, and critical posthumanism. - Science Fiction Studies

Tokyo Cyberpunk is hugely inspiring, precisely for the liberating effects of Brown's stance - which runs counter to the totalitarian, monolithic approach of most (or virtually all) film studies, be they historilÓg